1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise devices and more particularly to a device for use in exercising, developing and toning hand, arm and wrist muscles and upper body muscles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various sports including golf, tennis and baseball require that the players have unusually strong wrist, hand and arm muscles. Even football players, especially offensive linemen, require particularly strong hand, arm and wrist muscles to facilitate their blocking assignments. Moreover, a lack of conditioning of certain muscles may result in various chronic ailments which cause pain and lessen enjoyment and abilities in the pursuit of athletic activities. For example, weakness of the lateral epicondyle of the humerus causes the common "tennis elbow" which may hinder the professional athlete in pursuit of his goals for success and which may dissuade the recreational player from enhancing his skills and furthering his enjoyment. Another commonly recognized problem is that of "golfers elbow" which is caused by weakness of the medial epicondyle of the humerus. This condition can also hinder both the professional and recreational golfer in pursuing their respective goals. The most common method of strengthening those muscles has been in the use of free weights which the athlete uses in wrist curl exercises. Such exercises have proven successful in merely strengthening, for example, the wrist. However, they are not particularly useful in strengthening the entire hand, wrist and arm sections and they also have proven detrimental to the flexibility of the joints.
One prior art device has been proposed in an attempt to overcome the above-described deficiencies. This exercise device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,234 to Struble. Struble provides a device in which handgrips are mounted on a mounting bar such that they can rotate with respect to one another. Adjustable end members 22 are threaded onto the ends of the mounting bar to maintain the handgrips therebetween and to provide adjustment of the amount of friction which opposes rotation of the grip members. The Struble exercise device, however, is somewhat undesirable in use because, if the user is not careful during adjustment, he may cause the device to disassemble by tightening down on one end while the opposite end loosens, thus pushing the grip members off of the end of the mounting bar. Furthermore, upon extended use, the tension producing parts wear and the device tends to become less resistant to turning and thus frequent adjustment is required. In particular, lock washers positioned between the ends of hand grips and the adjustment knobs have rectangular apertures which fit over rectangularly undercut ends of the central rod. As the hand grips are rotated, the washers also attempt to rotate and wear their central apertures. More rotation is therefor transmitted to the adjustment knobs causing them to loosen and tension to back off. In addition, the rotational motion of the device may become sharp and jerky producing unwanted strain on the muscle groups being exercised. The device is also relatively light in weight. Because of this, the advantages attained in using free weights are not realized during the use of this prior art device. That is, by exercising with relative heavy weights a greater variety of muscles are affected during the exercise and the exercise will provide more effective and acute muscle toning and development.
Other prior devices include those of Lopez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,937; Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,453; Zinken, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,008; Petrosky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,950; Sloan, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 684,117 and Goddard, British 161,282. However, none of these devices provide the combination of elements of the present invention whereby variable friction resistance is obtained in combination with smooth exercising motion while overcoming the mechanical disadvantages of Struble.